{"id":1384125,"date":"2021-07-16T11:39:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1384125"},"modified":"2023-04-20T12:59:22","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T16:59:22","slug":"larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird &#8216;Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: &#8216;Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?'"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While he eventually became known for his extracurricular activities, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dennis-rodmans-drive-to-becoming-one-of-the-greatest-defenders-and-rebounders-in-nba-history\/\">Dennis Rodman first made a name<\/a> for himself as a tenacious defender willing to do the dirty work on the hardwood. As an NBA rookie, though, he faced a stiff challenge in the form of <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/Larry-Bird\/\">Larry Bird<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although trying to defend one of basketball's top offensive talents is tough enough, Larry Legend wasn't one to take it easy on a rival. In fact, he taunted Rodman throughout their initial encounters, even going as far as asking the Worm if he was playing defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-larry-bird-earned-a-reputation-as-one-of-the-nba-s-top-trash-talkers\">Larry Bird earned a reputation as one of the NBA's top trash talkers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Larry Bird asks, &quot;Who&#039;s playing for 2nd?&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SEELygwIo-s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you think of Larry Bird's skills, his shooting touch and overall offensive game probably spring to the forefront of your mind. While those talents helped make him a living NBA legend, he also <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-put-rodney-rogers-in-his-place-after-ill-fated-trash-talk-dream-team\/\">had a knack for trash talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it's easy to write trash talk off as a mean-spirited way to mess with an opponent, Bird didn't usually tear down his opponents. Instead, his verbal warfare focused on confidence in his own ability. One of the forward's signature moves was <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-trash-talked-future-into-existence-during-60-point-game\/\">telling a defender exactly how he planned on scoring<\/a>, then pulling it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On some occasions, though, Larry Legend pushed things even further. During a game against the Suns, for example, the Celtics needed two points to tie the contest and force an extra frame. But Bird wasn't prepared to play any overtime that night. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-once-torched-the-entire-phoneix-suns-bench-with-a-single-piece-of-trash-talk\/\">He told the Phoenix bench that he was tired of playing against them<\/a>, nailed a game-winning three, and headed to the locker room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even Michael Jordan, one of the most competitive men that basketball has ever seen, appreciated Bird's efforts. During a 2015 Flight School camp, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-called-this-player-the-biggest-trash-talker-hes-ever-faced\/\">he said Celtics star was the best trash talker he ever faced<\/a> and noted that he relied on &#8220;good trash, though, not dirty trash.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-schooling-a-young-dennis-rodman-during-his-rookie-season\">Schooling a young Dennis Rodman during his rookie season <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Larry-Bird-Dennis-Rodman.jpg?strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"An image of Larry Bird in his Celtics warmups alongside an image of Dennis Rodman on the NBA hardwood\" width=\"1200\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Larry Bird (L) and Dennis Rodman (R) had their share of encounters on the NBA hardwood. | Tom Berg\/WireImage and Andy Lyons \/Allsport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>During his time in the pros, Dennis Rodman proved to one of the toughest defenders around. As a rookie, though, he faced a stiff test of his mettle in the form of Larry Bird. Not only did the Celtics' star put on an offensive show, but he also hit the Worm with some trash talk along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During an appearance on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=x7UsFLDdmf4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basketball Time Machine<\/a> podcast, Rodman fielded a question about the Celtics-Pistons rivalry. While the forward admitted that he didn't understand the hate until he hit the floor against Boston, he did share an anecdote about that first game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I didn\u2019t know the rivalry was like that until I got to participate in the first game in 1986-87, and I tried to do my best to go on Larry Bird \u2013 it didn\u2019t work too well, he kind of schooled me a little bit,&#8221; Rodman explained. The whole game \u2014 every game \u2014 he plays it [by saying], \u2018Dennis, are you guarding me? Take that for you.' &#8216;Alright, I'll take that, Larry. I'll take that. I'll take that.' He'll shoot a jump shot and say, &#8216;Dennis, you like that?' I said, &#8216;You know what man, the hell with you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you look online, there are also stories that Bird made some comments to Pistons coach Chuck Daly, suggesting that someone should defend him and further building on the idea that the rookie was so ineffective that he might as well be sitting on the sidelines. There's no confirmation, however, that that interaction ever took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on Basketball-Reference's game logs, it seems like Rodman's first encounter with Bird took place in March 1987 as he didn't see the court during the teams' first meeting. Larry Legend scored 23 points in a Celtics win and, since the Worm only played 13 minutes coming off the bench, clearly trash-talked well enough to leave a lasting impact on his young opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dennis-rodman-infamously-threw-his-own-trash-talk-back-at-larry-legend-at-the-end-of-that-season\">Dennis Rodman infamously threw his own trash talk back at Larry Legend at the end of that season<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Danny Ainge &amp; Jerry Sichting Talk Bird&#039;s Steal to End Game 5 of the 1987 ECF | Classic Celtics\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KSdL0NSi80c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even early in his career, Rodman wasn't going to take that trash talk lying down. In fact, when the 1986-87 season ended, the rookie forward took an infamous shot at Bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the Celtic eliminated Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals, Rodman told the world exactly what he thought of Larry Legend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s not God,\u201d Rodman said, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/news\/os-xpm-1987-06-02-0130280062-story.html\">The Orlando Sentinel<\/a>. \u201cHe ain\u2019t the best player in the NBA, not to me. ... He\u2019s white. That\u2019s the reason he gets it, the MVP award. Nobody gives Magic Johnson credit. He deserved it last year, too. I don\u2019t care. Go ahead and tell him. You\u2019ll put it in the paper anyway.\u201d Isiah Thomas agreed but later insisted that he was joking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unsurprisingly, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/dennis-rodman-was-forced-to-apologize-to-larry-bird-for-racist-comments\/\">Rodman's agent forced the forward to apologize for his comments<\/a>. Bird, however, wasn't too concerned with the entire saga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Well, I\u2019ve been in them locker rooms after tough losses,&#8221; the Celtic told Marc J. Spears of <a href=\"https:\/\/theundefeated.com\/features\/larry-bird-being-a-white-player-in-the-nba-trash-talking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Undefeated<\/a> in 2019. <br>&#8220;There is no telling what\u2019s said off the record, heat of the battle. Stuff like that never bothered me. Everybody is going to have their opinion, they\u2019re going to say what they\u2019re going to say, you just go on about your business. I can remember after that game somebody come up to me right away after they talked to Isiah. But really, it wasn\u2019t a big deal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Michael Jordan noted, Larry Legend only talked &#8220;good trash.&#8221; Dennis Rodman, on the other hand, always preferred to play by his own rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stats courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/boxscores\/198703010BOS.html\">Basketball-Reference<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-made-24-million-playing-basketball-still-derived-his-pleasure-from-simplest-sources\/\">Larry Bird Made $24 Million Playing Basketball but Still Derived His Pleasure From the Simplest Sources: \u2018Nothing Has Changed Him\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an NBA rookie, Dennis Rodman tried his hand at defending Larry Bird. Needless to say, it was a humbling experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1384191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19614,62310],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Larry Bird &#039;Schooled&#039; a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: &#039;Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?&#039; - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While Dennis Rodman established a reputation as a tough defender, Larry Bird had no problem scoring on him and trash-talking along the way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Larry Bird &#8216;Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: &#8216;Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While Dennis Rodman established a reputation as a tough defender, Larry Bird had no problem scoring on him and trash-talking along the way.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-16T15:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-20T16:59:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Larry-Bird-Dennis-Rodman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoeKozlowski_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Larry Bird 'Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: 'Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?' - 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope \u2014 both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"JoeKozlowski_\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Joe Kozlowski | Sports7 Writer\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Larry Bird 'Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: 'Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?' - Sports7","description":"While Dennis Rodman established a reputation as a tough defender, Larry Bird had no problem scoring on him and trash-talking along the way.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Larry Bird &#8216;Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: &#8216;Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?'","og_description":"While Dennis Rodman established a reputation as a tough defender, Larry Bird had no problem scoring on him and trash-talking along the way.","og_url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/","og_site_name":"Sports7","article_published_time":"2021-07-16T15:39:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-20T16:59:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Larry-Bird-Dennis-Rodman.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joe Kozlowski","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JoeKozlowski_","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joe Kozlowski","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/","url":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-schooled-young-dennis-rodman-with-some-signature-trash-talk\/","name":"Larry Bird 'Schooled' a Young Dennis Rodman With Some of His Signature Trash Talk: 'Dennis, Are You Guarding Me?' - 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope \u2014 both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.","sameAs":["","JoeKozlowski_","","",""],"jobTitle":"Joe Kozlowski | Sports7 Writer","email":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1558492,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384125\/revisions\/1558492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1384191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}